Republicans narrowly voted in favor of the revised version of their prized health care bill that they began pushing through the House Thursday, about six weeks after nearly leaving the measure for dead.

What makes the new version more likely to pass?

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Earlier this week, moderates objected that constituents with pre-existing conditions could effectively be denied coverage by insurers charging them exorbitant premiums. At least a dozen of them said Wednesday they would oppose the legislation.

But GOP leaders seemed to win over a raft of wavering lawmakers after adding $8 billion over five years for state high-risk pools, aimed at helping seriously ill people pay expensive premiums. That was on top of $130 billion already in the bill for states to help customers, though critics said those amounts were insufficient.

How else would the measure affect the health care system?

The bill would eliminate tax penalties in President Obama's law which has clamped down on people who don't buy coverage, and it erases tax increases in the Affordable Care Act on higher-earning people and the health industry. It cuts the Medicaid program for low-income people and lets states impose work requirements on Medicaid recipients. It transforms Obama's subsidies for millions buying insurance -- largely based on people's incomes and premium costs -- into tax credits that rise with consumers' ages.

The measure would retain Obama's requirement that family policies cover grown children until age 26.

But states could get federal waivers freeing insurers from other Obama coverage requirements. With waivers, insurers could charge people with pre-existing illnesses far higher rates than healthy customers, boost prices for older consumers to whatever they wish and ignore the mandate that they cover specified services like pregnancy care.

The bill would block federal payments to Planned Parenthood for a year, considered a triumph by many anti-abortion Republicans.

How would this affect coverage?

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated in March that the GOP bill would end coverage for 24 million people over a decade. That office also said the bill's subsidies would be less generous for many, especially lower-earning and older people who are not yet 65 and qualifying for Medicare.

A CBO estimate for the cost of the latest version of their bill will not be ready before the House votes.

What happens next?

The Associated Press had counted 21 Republicans on Tuesday who said they would oppose the bill - one short of the 22 defections that would kill it if all Democrats voted no. Many others were undecided.

House passage would send the measure to an uncertain fate in the Senate, where some Republicans consider the House measure too harsh. Polls have shown that Obama's much-maligned law has actually gained in popularity as the debate over a replacement health care program has accelerated.